


live and die this way

by damerons (noblydonedonnanoble)



Series: Author's Favorites [6]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Mandalorian Finn, Multi, Rey is not a Mandalorian but she and Finn were both raised by Din, the fic begins with the opening scene of TFA but immediately goes off the rails, there's some slight implied DinLuke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:41:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29127387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblydonedonnanoble/pseuds/damerons
Summary: “I thought Mandalorians hated Jedi.”“Do they?” Rey tilted her head to look at Finn; based on the way he inclined his helmet, it appeared that he was looking back. “Well, I’m not most Jedi.”Followed almost at once by Finn: “And I’m not most Mandalorians.”[or, If Din Djarin had a nickel for every time he and Finn picked up strays on Jakku because Finn fell in love with them at first sight, he’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.]
Relationships: Finn/Rey (Star Wars), Poe Dameron/Finn, Poe Dameron/Finn/Rey
Series: Author's Favorites [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2202021
Comments: 19
Kudos: 103





	live and die this way

Poe Dameron hadn’t seen a Mandalorian since he left Kijimi, and frankly, he would have been perfectly content to never encounter another for as long as he lived.

They had all been so aggressive and trigger-happy, in a circle that was already plenty aggressive and _plenty_ trigger-happy. And gods, the way that they strutted everywhere, as though their karking Creed made them better than everyone else. He despised the lot of them.

But it seemed that even Poe could make exceptions.

Stormtroopers converged on Tuanul, and even Poe, who was rarely a realist, saw the likely result—they would put up a fight, and he would be captured, and the Resistance mission to find Luke Skywalker would be thwarted. So he gave BB-8 the map and instructed it to leave him behind.

Poe watched from afar as Kylo Ren threatened Lor San Tekka – with whom Poe had been speaking mere minutes before – and he should have taken a shot. He was _itching_ to. (Was Poe suspicious of the trigger-happy Mandos because he saw a bit of himself there? No, absolutely not. Absurd.)

Instead, hands settled on his body from behind, stilling him. “Don’t be an idiot.”

The voice was modulated and for the darkest flash of a moment, Poe was certain that one of the troopers had spotted him. He was on the verge of calling out, already doing the mental math of how to make a final stand and take down as many of these First Order drones as possible. Only he realized (just in time?) that the arms wrapped around him were armored in silver, rather than white.

“Wh—” He turned sharply, and his eyes widened at the sight of one of those damn Mando helmets. “You’ve got to be _kidding_ me,” he hissed.

One of the Mandalorian’s hands came up to cover Poe’s mouth, and the helmet tilted to the side just slightly. “Ren’s going to kill that man. I’m sorry, there’s nothing you can do to stop it now. But if you can just _wait_ , he’s going to leave after giving the order to kill the rest of the village, and then my friend and I will save as many as we can.”

Poe stared up into the eyes – what he assumed were the eyes – of the stranger. From behind him, he heard the tell-tale sizzling sound of Ren’s lightsaber, and he inhaled sharply. Kriff, what he would give…

Again, though. Poe Dameron might not be a realist, but he knew where that confrontation would likely end.

So he nodded, and the stranger released him.

“You and one other Mando against all of these troopers?” he whispered.

It was difficult to tell with the modulator, but Poe could have sworn that the Mandalorian laughed. “One of us could take them out. With both of us, it’ll be nothing.”

* * *

Finn knew what Din was thinking, when the younger Mandalorian emerged from their hiding spot on the nearby ridge just to stop the Resistance pilot from doing something very foolish. He’d said for years that Finn had a nasty habit of warming to troublemakers and lost causes, insisting on protecting people from themselves, just as much as from the First Order.

 _“I wonder where I got that from,”_ Finn had said on one occasion, to which Din pointedly made no reply.

But the pilot stuck around to help take out the troopers, and that put him into Din’s good graces, too. As much as someone could be in Din’s good graces.

This, perhaps, was why Finn found himself standing his ground after the shooting stopped. The pilot ran at once to the body – to the man Finn didn’t let him try to save – along with many of the other villagers in the settlement. One of the other elders tentatively came toward Finn and Din, most likely to thank them, but Din wasn’t interested in getting any thanks.

_“We’re in this for the stormtroopers. That’s it.”_

So he pointedly turned on his heel and moved to return to the ship, assuming that Finn would follow. Usually, Finn was good about following.

Finn stood his ground and he watched the pilot. He’d seen him send that small droid off into the desert when the First Order showed up. He’d also seen that the troopers had sabotaged his fighter, leaving him stranded in this nowhere settlement on Jakku.

“Can we help you catch up to your droid?”

He stood several meters away, so the pilot startled as he looked up and over. Din’s footsteps stilled behind Finn, and he didn’t even want to imagine the earful that he was going to receive if the pilot said—

“Y-yeah, alright. Thank you.”

Finn nodded and gestured behind him. “Our ship is just over that ridge. Come meet us once you’ve finished up here.”

The pilot didn’t even have room to answer before Finn had turned around to follow Din, but he called out his understanding. And it was Din who replied, his tone short and cross. “Don’t take too long.” The ire was _absolutely_ intended for Finn, even if the instruction was not.

When Finn reached the older Mandalorian’s side, he got more. “We’re picking up strays, now?”

And here, too, Finn could have pointed out that he was simply following Din’s lead. But he didn’t want to irritate him even more.

“So you think we should have left him stranded?”

Din hummed to himself but said nothing.

* * *

Poe couldn’t sort through exactly what the Mandalorians’ _deal_ was, particularly after he stepped onto their ship (small and practical, maneuverable; he could respect that) and said, “I didn’t know the Resistance had any Mandos on their side,” and the _other_ one – the one who hadn’t stopped him from defending Tekka – said, “We’re not here for the Resistance.”

Ominous, particularly given that the door to the ship had just clanged shut.

But the friendlier Mandalorian – what an _odd_ concept – offered more. “We’re doing our part to stop the First Order. He’s just had some… problems with your general when it comes to our methods.”

Leia hadn’t said anything to Poe about any Mandalorians, but given her general suspicion toward them, he wouldn’t have been surprised if the stranger was telling the truth. Perhaps he had nearly been a bit too impulsive back there, but he saw the two Mandos taking down those troopers; it was unnerving, how vicious but _efficient_ they were. No, he imagined that Leia wouldn’t like that much.

Still. How much could he really trust them to help him get ahold of BB-8? Would he want more of their assistance, if they even offered it? He certainly wasn’t thrilled with the idea of having to call for a rescue ship all the way out to Jakku.

“What can I call you?” he asked, following them into the cockpit. Maybe some candor (or lack thereof) would give him enough of an idea of their trustworthiness. “When I do my mission report and tell Leia who helped me.”

“Just say ‘two Mandalorians,’” the angry one said, at the same time the other said, “Finn.” A pause while the one without a name booted up the ship, and then Finn tilted his helmet toward his friend. “Call him ‘Mando.’”

Poe hesitated, looking between them. He wasn’t quite sure which part of this picture puzzled him the most—the combination of the forthcoming Finn and stern Mando, perhaps, neither of them anything like any of the other Mandalorians he’d ever met. But how had they come upon this confrontation with the First Order? Why did they want to help him if they also were so intent on separating themselves from the Resistance?

“I’m Poe Dameron,” he offered softly, rather than raise further questions. “And maybe you two aren’t with the Resistance, but if you’re against the First Order, I can promise you that by helping me get my droid back, you’ll be doing a lot to help us stop them.”

Finn nodded. Mando said and did nothing, focused on pulling the ship into the sky, but Poe assumed, at this point, that he didn’t much _want_ to speak.

This was all very, very strange.

* * *

It seemed to Finn that Poe loved his droid nearly as much as Din hated it—as much as Din hated all droids just on instinct. The pilot raced out of the cockpit, into the dunes on the surface of Jakku, and he scrambled toward the small spherical astromech, greeting it so loudly and so eagerly that they could hear him inside the ship. As they watched, he _embraced_ the thing.

“Your pet has a pet,” Din muttered.

“Stop it,” Finn retorted. “I just want to help him.”

Din turned his helmet to look at Finn, and the young man had known him for long enough to discern a stern gaze just from his posture and the tilt of his head. “Like you wanted to help Rey.”

Finn had no argument, and he did not try to make one. “We’ll get him to the Resistance, and then we’ll leave.”

He meant it, mostly. But as Din griped with some frequency, he sometimes didn’t know when to leave well enough alone.

(Or maybe he was trying to pick up another stray.)

They (Finn) offered to take Poe to the Resistance, and with some hesitance, the pilot agreed. It was a few minutes later, as they were clearing atmo, that Finn asked, “What’s Leia like? I’ve only ever heard about her from Mando and Luke.”

At once, it seemed that he had said something wrong. Poe’s expression shifted, brows furrowing while he squinted at Finn. “I’m sorry, _what_ did you just say?”

* * *

Rey wasn’t expecting Din and Finn for nearly a week, so when she spotted the ship from the temple on the peak of Ahch-To, she was immediately concerned that something was wrong.

What she was not expecting, when she reached the beach, was to find Luke in the middle of an argument with the two Mandalorians while a stranger stood off to the side, watching the exchange in bewilderment.

“-- had a deal, Din. You gave your word that you wouldn’t ever bring anyone here.”

“Finn _insisted_ ,” the older Mandalorian reported, exasperation saturating his tone.

But Finn had an immediate retort. “He would have been here in a few days anyway, once they figured out that map his droid is carrying. What would you rather we have done? Come and tell you to leave?”

“Yes, that sounds like _exactly_ what you should have done.”

Stars, Rey had heard enough. She drew closer, calling out, “What’s happening?”

Luke grimaced when he turned around to look at her. “Your family doesn’t understand that when a Jedi decides to hide away from the galaxy, he might not want a rotating collection of visitors who always expect the hero of the Rebellion.”

“Hey,” she answered sternly. “When they pull something like this, it’s _your_ family.” Her gaze fell on the stranger; he looked utterly baffled by everything that was transpiring in front of him, but when Rey met his eye, he managed a small, sincere smile. “I’m Rey,” she told him.

“Poe.”

“And it’s time for you to _go_ ,” Luke added, casting Poe a stern look. “Tell Leia that I have nothing to offer her.” This instruction, however, was nowhere near as severe as his next words to Din. “Let’s sort out how we’re going to deal with this.”

* * *

Poe was beginning to wonder whether perhaps he was dreaming.

It seemed like the only explanation for the combination of memories that he was currently working with—being saved by two Mandalorians; then being brought by those Mandalorians to Luke karking Skywalker, for whom Poe had been searching for what felt like an eternity; and then discovering that a young female Jedi was _also_ hiding away with Luke.

And they had called themselves a family, whatever _that_ meant.

Yes, he was inclined to believe that he might be dreaming.

He nearly said as much, once Luke left with Mando – with Din? he had called him Din – and he found himself alone with Finn and the woman, who Finn had called Rey.

But instead of saying that this all felt like a dream, Poe commented on the other thing that had been nagging at him since learning that the Mandalorians knew Luke Skywalker.

“I thought Mandalorians hated Jedi.”

“Do they?” Rey tilted her head to look at Finn; based on the way he inclined his helmet, it appeared that he was looking back. “Well, I’m not most Jedi.”

Followed almost at once by Finn: “And I’m not most Mandalorians.”

Poe swallowed. His eyes fell to Finn’s hand on Rey’s thigh, before drifting from Rey’s thoughtful gaze to Finn’s helmet, through which he could gauge nothing. Maybe this should have frustrated him, but instead, he found that he couldn’t quite look away.

* * *

Finn had understood, when Rey chose not to take the Creed. She’d always been so curious about her Force sensitivity, so when Din talked Luke into teaching her more about the Force, it seemed… only right that she follow that path. Perhaps they wouldn’t see each other as frequently, not with Finn and Din running all over to take down all the stormtroopers they could, but they were willing to pay that price.

But as they sat with Poe Dameron, Finn was abruptly aware of how much he had been missing. Not just missing Rey, but missing something deeper, as well.

“Maybe I can come with you,” Rey told Poe. “If Luke won’t.”

It was not a surprise when Finn offered, too.

Somehow, it was precisely what Poe wanted.


End file.
